The future of a controversial housing development proposed to bring transformational change to one of Wine Country’s most affordable and northern cities could live or die this week.
Developer Esmeralda Land Co. is proposing to build an entirely new, walkable neighborhood with over 600 homes on a former industrial site where a lumber mill and wood treatment facility operated along the Russian River in Cloverdale, a city of about 9,000 in Sonoma County near the Mendocino County border. The Cloverdale City Council was expected to vote on Wednesday on a series of key approvals that would allow the project to move forward.
If approved, Esmeralda could add more houses, senior apartments, hotel rooms and commercial space than Cloverdale has seen in nearly 20 years, and pour millions annually into local schools, reverse the city’s structural deficit and fund a new city well. Even so, massive signs with “No Esmeralda” — all-caps and in red — have appeared on picket fences around town…